On May 4, 2017, Australia’s Human Rights Arts and Film Festival provided the stage for the Australian premiere of "The Opposition," an incredible documentary which follows the story of one community’s fight against forced eviction.

Global Citizen spoke with Australian filmmaker, Hollie Fifer, about the event which catalysed the film’s creation.

On 12 May, 2012, filmmaker Hollie Fifer was in Papua New Guinea (PNG) researching the recent parliamentary coup and shadowing leader of the Opposition, Dame Carol Kidu, when the politician received a call for aid from distraught residents of Paga Hill.

In recent weeks, the historic shanty town had been notified that their land had been sold out from underneath them for re-development by the Paga Hill Development Company (PHDC), a largely Australian-run company. Facing eviction, Joe Moses and fellow community leaders rushed to the National Court, petitioning for a stay order for the demolition.

As they waited, PNG police officers arrived at Paga Hill to begin the demolition, armed with rifles, machetes and a large excavator. Fifer captured all on camera, as officers attacked residents attempting to document the demolition and then opened fire on the unarmed community.

Only when lawyers arrived with a stay order from the court, did the violence cease. 350 residents’ homes lay destroyed and many people were injured, but it was only the beginning.

“The story starts off really small with that one event, and then it keeps growing,” Fifer says.  “It sort of expanded on me and all of a sudden I was carrying this thing that seemed much heavier than I could have ever imagined.”

Fifer’s passion for storytelling is evident as she discusses the film, which she calls “a craft of love.”

“You have to follow [the story] in a way that’s very humble. In a way that says, ‘I know nothing and I’m going to gather little bits of information as I go and it might take one year or it might take ten.’ We knew from analysing the story we were starting to capture, that the question of the film was, ‘Will the community stay on Paga Hill?’, and so we couldn’t finish the film until that was answered.”

Fifer says the film’s style evolved from the footage she was shooting, explaining that although she’d always been an activist, this hadn’t directly come out in her filmmaking previously.

“I was still trying to figure out what kind of voice I would have. It didn’t seem like I had much choice in this one. It was so cinematic, what I was experiencing. I really fell in love with Joe Moses as the main character. I’ve never seen integrity in a pure form as I have in him. He had such a presence on screen, and in person, that I just knew he had the charisma to pull it off.”

Fifer and her crew faced many difficulties along the way, ranging from exhausting humidity to the threat of physical violence arising from the film’s controversial nature.

‘It was a massive culture shock,” she says. “I realised early on that everything I’d been taught growing up wasn’t going to help me in PNG. I had to learn how to live all over again.”

As pressure upon the community grew and new challenges emerged, Paga Hill’s residents began to feel the strain. Fifer speaks candidly about her struggles with post-traumatic stress during this time.

‘I hadn’t heard any other filmmakers talk about it,” she says. “I was quite upset because I thought maybe I was alone in this. Where is the conversation about it? If you’re filming people going through trauma, the likelihood of you going through trauma is quite high, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. The reason I kept going back was that obligation, that this might feel uncomfortable, but was I going to do it anyway? At that point I always said yes.”

According to the UN, millions of people around the world face forced eviction every year. There are many potential obstacles for communities seeking redress, including difficulties in proving land title, accessing information and legal support, and often even in proving that injustices have occurred.

“It’s really special for Joe and I to be presenting the film,” says Fifer. “These human rights abuses are happening all around and most of them go without the echo of people hearing about it. They just happen and then they’re lost.”

Fifer hopes that the film will facilitate discussion in the wider community, and encourages viewers to check out the Opposition’s impact campaign which contains actions individuals can take to support Joe Moses and the Paga Hill Community.

‘What happens when corporations’ ideas of prosperity, growth, and economic viability come in direct conflict with human rights?” she asks. “What do we do? It doesn’t bother me whether you agree with [the film] or not, but let’s discuss it. It’s not about saying right or wrong, it’s just about saying that this is what’s happening within our society, and asking, ‘How do we feel about it?’ and ‘Where do we want to go?’”

‘The Opposition’ is a testament to the persistence of the human spirit and we can’t recommend it highly enough. We hope that so long as injustices like this exist, documentary film makers like Fifer will continue to shine a light and share these stories with the world.